A Stray Thought

Continuing on from the theme from yesterday on the Acts 2 church.

Do you ever have a thought that enters your mind that you haven't thought about in several months, kind of like an item left unchecked on your To Do list? This morning I had such a stray thought. I remember blogging about a book I had started reading and mentioned it was a little controversial, they I never blogged about it (that I can remember!). Today I fulfill that promise.

The book is Gary Gilley's This Little Church Went to Market. A friend told me about it and it's sister book, This Little Church Went Home (which I'm still reading). I agree with most of the book, not all, and found it very interesting. Here are some highlights:

Acts 2:41-42: 'So then, those who had received his word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.' We see from these verses the essential functions of the local assembly: evangelism, instruction in the Word, participation in the ordinances, prayer and fellowship. Intertwined within these would be worship and edification. These activities defined the New Testament church, and distinguished it from a social club or a political rally.

Start with evangelism. Evangelism was the one biblically mandated function in which believers engaged outside of the assembled church. They did not invite friends to the church gatherings to win them to Christ. The church services were not geared for the unbelievers but for the saints.

It was not enough to produce baby Christians; believers needed to be trained in the Word so they could move on to maturity. (Heb. 5:11-14) It was one of the primary functions of the local church to aid in this maturing process. . . If the church is the dispenser of truth to both the lost and the redeemed, then dissemination of truth must be at the top of the church's agenda.

That is most of what I highlighted in the introduction. This guy doesn't pull any punches. The book is mainly about churches getting back to the basics of the faith, not allowing culture to dictate how we deliver the good news, but how the church should be influencing culture. He has many thoughts on the state of mega churches, he believes they are doing a good work, but really disagrees with how they are doing it. He believes that there is a huge entertainment factor to worship today. Because culture has become accustomed to video and sound and anything visually stimulating, many large churches integrate that into their worship services in order to draw people in. Once they're in, he believes they deliver the truth most of the time. His question is, should we be baiting people like that? Is it honest? Fish are caught with bait . . . ? Hmmmm. But he says that people should be winning people to the faith outside the church, then bringing them in to learn.

An interesting thing, though, one of our nation's megachurches did a survey of their attendees and found that the seekers don't want the song and dance on Sunday morning. They want what the Christians get. They want to experience the real deal, because that's how they want to make their decision on whether or not to follow Christ. The church decided to change their services so that Sunday morning was what they used to offer only on Wednesday night, the solid teaching and worship.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It hits hard. There were times I had to put it down and take a break. All in all, I do have a lot of highlighting in it. It's a short read, and full of information. Lots of food for thought. I'll continue with this book in my next blogs.

Blessings on this warm and sunny Wednesday.

Hmmmmmm . . .

This morning I've been pondering. For me, that's a common occurrence. I'm a deep thinker, a contemplative, an introvert, introspective, shy, a bookworm. My motto has always been, 'you learn more by listening than by talking'. So here's what I've been pondering this morning:

I used to think there was one right way to do church and my church did it. Probably every church goer has had the same thought, that's why they were there. It was kind of an 80's model, corporate, which was good, because at the time I worked for a corporation so everything fit together. But recently I've come to realize that just as the body of Christ within one church is made up of a variety of people, who all fit together with their gifts and personalities, each church has it's own focus and personality to minister to different segments of society, according to what God has called them to do. Some churches are very missions oriented, some are very fellowship oriented, etc. It's their focus and they attract people looking for that.

But recently as I've been reading books that have challenged me a great deal in who I minister to, it seems there is a trend for churches to get back to the grassroots of the faith. Pastors are going back to read Acts 2, they're preaching on it and writing books on it. They're stripping away superfluous ministries, they're doing the things that bring the most transformational changes in people. Books are being written on the nitty-gritty of ministry, like Messy Spirituality, and being In A Pit With A Lyon On A Snowy Day, and The Unstoppable Force. People are being encouraged and stretched to minister to those who are not like them. God is no respecter of persons. He ministers and loves everyone equally. Why don't we?

Look around you. Is everyone you work with and interact with each day like you? Look at my life for example. I'm a middle-class baby boomer, homeowner, with 2 kids, 2 dogs, a cat and a fish, 2 cars and a college education. I work with similar people. My neighbors are similar people. Our kids' friends' parents are similar people. The people in our church are similar people. So I ask myself, how is that stretching me? It's not. It's easy. It's comfortable. It's status quo and keeps me in my soft, puffy world. Is that what God wants for me? If everyone ministers only to people like themselves, we have segregation. Even our society woke up to the negative aspects of that in the 50's.

So here's my challenge to me and to you. Look around you. Whether you know them or not, how can you bless someone who is not like you? Maybe they're richer than you, poorer than you, smarter than you, less educated than you, older than you, younger than you, addicted to chemicals or emotional habits, haven't showered in weeks, handicapped, sad, homeless, hungry, angry, been in prison, been in jail, sick, the list goes on. Jesus would talk to and minister to them all. Why don't we? Is it uncomfortable? Yes. Will you get dirty? Possibly. Will you be blessed as you bless them? Definitely.

I think the time of staying in the glass houses of our churches and only ministering to fellow believers one or two days a week is over. It's time to step outside the doors and into the sunshine of God's love and be a conduit of generosity to those who are really in need. Then, yes, bring them in, love them, heal them, train them, and release them to do likewise. That's the call. Are you up for it?